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That 1987 F150 I worked on last week had some weird wiring I'd never seen before
I was doing a tune up on an old F150 for a customer near Austin and when I popped the hood, the previous owner had spliced like 8 different aftermarket add-ons into the factory harness. There was a cheap amp, some off brand fog lights, and even a trailer brake controller all tapped into the same 12v line. No fuses, no relays, just twisted wires and electrical tape. I spent 3 hours just tracing and cleaning that mess before I could even touch the motor. Has anyone else run into a total rats nest like that and just wanted to walk away from the whole job?
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david92014d ago
Did you happen to find any old lamp cord wire in there too? I've seen people use that for trailer wiring and it's always a fire waiting to happen... The worst one I ran into was a 90s Bronco where they had wired a subwoofer amp directly into the ignition switch harness with lamp cord and no fuse at all. The insulation was already melted in a few spots from the draw. Took me half a day to undo that and replace the burned up switch connector. Sometimes you gotta wonder if people just hate their trucks or if they really think electrical tape is magic.
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lucashenderson14d ago
Won't lie I've been guilty of using lamp cord for a quick fix on my old truck once. Melted a hole right through the insulation and it smelled like burning plastic for a week before I learned my lesson. Electrical tape is definitely magic though right?
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river_thompson11d ago
Nah electrical tape isn't magic, it's just masking bigger problems till they fail worse.
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